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The colonel slaps his hands on his desk, which captures both our attention. “I need you two to quit covering for each other and answer the question. Explain the ropes.”
“He’s in rut. He didn’t want to harm me. We figured out a way to… safely explore our attraction.”
Slater nods and leans back in his chair. “Good. I didn’t want to believe one of my males would harm a woman.” He focuses solely on Cally as he says, “After what they’ve been through, they’d have every right to be crazed maniacs, yet I’ve seldom met such a good-hearted group of people. You see why I would do anything to keep them safe, Miss Quinn? Now, I just need to decide what to do with you.”
I start to interrupt, to try one more time to take Cally’s punishment, but Slater’s having none of it.
“Sylas, you were a soldier.” His face is creased in distaste. I imagine he’s recalling the horrible conditions in which he found us, just as I am. “Slip back into a military mindset and give me a report on your observations on one Calliope Quinn.”
Since the day of my rescue—spearheaded by this very male—I’ve tried to put my military training behind me. I guess I didn’t banish it completely, because it floods back.
Rising to my full height and standing in front of my chair in a strict military at-ease position, I gather my thoughts and give report.
“I encountered Ms. Quinn’s dog at approximately 1430 hours two days ago. He was barking in alarm, probably due to my not-quite-human scent and species. Ms. Quinn wasn’t far behind, having crawled under the fence using the hole her dog found. My appearance couldn’t be hidden, so I confiscated her keys, rendered her cell phone inoperable, and remanded her to my custody while I considered the options.”
I quell the urge to ease closer to Cally, to touch her. Instead, I stay in my military persona, which I thought was long forgotten. I continue explaining the events of the last two days in as factual a manner as possible.
“In summary, the civilian, although accustomed to a peripatetic lifestyle and initially wishing to run away, became cooperative after realizing the high stakes situation and has not attempted to run since the first few minutes of our encounter.”
Perhaps I shouldn’t continue. What I’m about to say next will surely get me in trouble, but it also might gain Cally more freedom. “It should be noted that to engender her trust, I returned her keys to her, but she immediately handed them back to me. She has not broken that trust even when I was tied to the bed to ensure her safety during my rut. She doesn’t want harm to come to any of us.”
Slater’s a hard man to read. He has genuine affection for us splicers. Rumor has it he refused a promotion so he could stay on this base and continue to support and protect us. Right this minute, however, his nostrils are flaring and his face is implacable.
“Is that correct, Miss Quinn? You could have run?”
“Yes, sir. He’s been tied up at night. I could have grabbed the keys off his neck and taken off.”
“And why didn’t you?”
Though she’s speaking to him, her hazel gaze collides with mine. “Two reasons. First, I don’t want to be responsible for hurting a bunch of splicers, although I’d never breathe a word about them.”
“And?”
“And I’m falling for Sylas. No. Correct that. I’ve already fallen.”
Something washes over me. I’ve never felt anything like it before. It’s warm and liquid and fills me up. At first, it’s a trickle, but I dig deep inside myself and somehow find a… spigot that allows the flow to become a deluge.
I’m receiving affection, Cally’s genuine affection, for the first time in my life. It’s as close to heaven as I imagine I’ll ever get. It would kill me to lose it now.
The room is silent for an eternity. No. That’s wrong. It’s quiet for a thousand eternities as Slater considers his decision.
“Alright, you two. Miss Quinn? Are you willing to sign the contract we developed for the women we brought onto the base? It contains rules, expectations, and a non-disclosure clause. If you agree, you’ll have to remain here until the splicer project goes public, but you’ll be free to roam the property. You can contact your family or friends who would be alarmed if you are missing, but you won’t be able to tell them the truth.”
“House arrest as opposed to being locked in a cell? I vote for house arrest.”
“We have a nice clean barracks on the integrated portion of the property. There’s an old-fashioned main street where we’re developing a tourist attraction that will be staffed by humans and splicers. Behind the town hall are male and female barracks. You’ll be quite comfortable there and the other women will be happy to take you under their wing.”
He opens the folder with her name on it and I notice the exact moment he sees the name of her book because he smirks, then snaps his gaze at me as he fails to suppress a chuckle. “I see you’re a successful author. I’m not sure what kind of a job we’ll find for you to do that would appeal to your area of… expertise. We’ll figure it out.”
I try not to let my disappointment show, but the extraordinary happiness and affection I felt only moments ago spools out of me as I realize we’ll be separated for the next twenty months. The property is 60,000 acres, about ten miles square.
I’ll be on one end and Cally will be on the other. How will I be able to live like that? Catching her alluring scent from time to time when the wind is right. Smelling her, knowing she’s close, and yet never allowed to touch or see her. The tight squeeze of agony in my chest is worse than the long nights in my cage when I was a prisoner.
“Or,” the Colonel continues, “you can live in a small Quonset in an area we’ve built for the other couples.” He answers my unspoken question when he adds, “Splicer/human couples. There are several people who consider themselves mated pairs living about a city block from here.”
I kneel in front of Cally, who is, to use a distinctly human phrase, looking like a deer in the headlights.
“Would you want that, Cally? Would you want to share a house with me?” My gaze bores into her as I wonder if what we shared was just a brief game to her. Was nothing real? Just something to pass the time until she found a way off the property without having the full force of the United States military after her?
